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Plain Jane Jassi a charm for Sony
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Sony TV's ratings climbed suddenly with the airing of "Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin". It was a gamble that paid off, and proved that when it comes to reviving flagging fortunes, there's no one quite like Jassi, reports SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY.
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Rakshanda Khan and Apoorva Agnihotri in a scene from "Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin".
WHEN SONY Television launched its serial "Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin" in September this year, there was hardly anyone who thought people would bother to take time off from the `saas-bahu' sagas to hook on to it. Divorced from the usual frills of a typical `serial about family life,' "Jassi Jaissi... " as claimed by the producers, could be the story of any simple middle class plain Jane who, despite not having the right looks, aspires to shine in the glamorous world of fashion. Hence, it was a gamble. The viewers might take a liking or just might reject it outright, and who can know this better than Sony itself? Their "Khwahish", a serial based on a similar storyline, failed to thrive long.
But indeed, "Jassi" literally turned out to be like "Koi Nahin" for Sony TV. Despite having `saas-bahu' flavoured large family soaps like "Kkusum" and "Kutumb", the channel was not doing so impressively against Star TV's gamut of family-oriented serials. But in the first week itself, "Jassi Jaissi... " made an impressive opening with a rating of 3.6 on that Sunday and consistently climbed the ratings chart to reach 4.2 by the following Thursday.
Understandably, Sony's Executive Vice President, Sunil Lulla is all smiles these days. "Indeed `Jassi' has done us good. The channel's viewership has increased by nearly 200 per cent due to it." Lulla gives credit to various points for "the great response".
He points out, "It can be attributed to its unique and refreshing storyline and innovative, focussed and aggressive marketing campaign leveraging a vast gamut of conventional and unconventional media including television, radio, outdoors, mobile phones and other high-density footfall areas. True to his words, the serial's promotional campaign did not overlook even small towns and the rear of a DTC bus.
Also, they tried to keep the name of the actress who played the role of "Jassi" a secret till, perhaps a Delhi paper claimed to have "uncovered" her. Though this secretiveness might have also added to its interest, Lulla does not want to give credit to it: "jassi's role is played by jasmit Walia. But, the question as to who has acted as Jassi is not so important, but how she has acted is so."
He says the story of "Jassi Jaissi... " is adapted from the world famous series, "Yo Soy Betty La Fea", one of the most successful soaps aired across 25 countries. "And, since the original show's depiction of real life conflicts faced by the middle class vis-à-vis the materialistic high society, has consistently clicked with over 80 million viewers across the globe, we had a gut feeling that "Jassi... " too would not fare so badly," adds Lulla.
But perhaps not so much. To quote statistics, the week before the serial was launched, the private channels' TV ratings were: Sony - 1.3, Star Plus - 13.6, Zee TV - 0.9 and Sahara TV - 0.8. But the next week, Sony's ratings shot up to 3.7, thus bringing down Star TV's to 12.1. Sony is planning to roll out more serials, but Lulla says, "they are not yet ready for the media."
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